The commissioner of the Canadian Football League is in town for tonight’s Labour Day rematch that pits the Eskimos against the Calgary Stampeders. He’s seen the …

]]>Mark Cohon doesn’t see dysfunction in Edmonton as much as he sees misguided passion.

The commissioner of the Canadian Football League is in town for tonight’s Labour Day rematch that pits the Eskimos against the Calgary Stampeders. He’s seen the TV coverage of general manager Ed Hervey’s press conference; he’s read the back-and-forth that’s gone on between the GM and his head coach, Kavis Reed, in the days that followed. Reed seems to be implementing Hervey’s demanded changes (bench Simeon Rottier; handcuff offensive co-ordinator Doug Sams; make defensive co-ordinator Greg Marshall’s defence more aggressive) at his own pace. Rottier will sit, but he was listed as the starting right guard on this week’s depth chart. Sams won’t call crucial plays, Reed said, but will still wear the headset. It’s business as usual, Sams said of the plan for this week. Reed, meanwhile, has insisted he’s not going rogue on his boss, saying he follows Hervey, “Every day and twice on Sundays.”

After Eric Tillman’s two-year stint as GM ended with the organization in flux last November, the one thing that was counted on this year with Hervey hired in was that the dysfunction was gone. This week seemed to counter that and those old questions started to come back.

On Friday afternoon, Cohon echoed Reed’s Thursday comments.

“I think there’s a lot of passion in the two leaders you have here in Ed and Kavis and you want to see that passion, because if there’s not passion you get even more worried about it,” he said.

“I think they’ll work through it. I think you see these cycles in sports. You see the up and down in terms of cycles and they’ll work through it. I’m confident that the leadership here will make it happen and at the end of the day if the team is winning on the field that addresses a lot of the challenges that they have.”

Hervey’s outspoken press conference on Tuesday drew criticism from many around the league and marks another moment that the team’s public image has taken a hit. A quick move to Florida in April for a secret mini-camp drew its critics, as did the team holding its final roster announcement out of training camp 14 hours longer than any other team in the league. The Eskimos weren’t in violation of any league policies in their actions, but they’ve also strayed from the practices of the pack this year.

“Like any organization, whenever you have new people in there are sometimes growing pains and you work through those,” Cohon said. “I think we’ll have 32,000 fans here (tonight). You focus on the game and that’s what we have to look forward to.”

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/09/06/cfl-commish-cohon-sees-passion-for-franchise-from-hervey-reed/feed/0CohonolearychrisEsks game day: A wild week that deserves discussion; live chat at 6:30 p.m.http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/09/06/esks-game-day-a-wild-week-that-deserves-discussion-live-chat-at-630-p-m/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/09/06/esks-game-day-a-wild-week-that-deserves-discussion-live-chat-at-630-p-m/#commentsFri, 06 Sep 2013 18:02:01 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=177145The most amazing thing about this absurdly tumultuous week for the Edmonton Eskimos? It’s all happened during their shortest week of the season.

]]>The most amazing thing about this absurdly tumultuous week for the Edmonton Eskimos? It’s all happened during their shortest week of the season.

A timeline:

Tuesday — Ed Hervey breaks his weeks-long silence at a hastily called press conference, expresses his extreme unhappiness in Simeon Rottier and votes him off of the island but not out of the room (audio here). He says Doug Sams will no longer be in charge of play calling; says Greg Marshall’s defence has to be aggressive and puts the rest of the team, including head coach Kavis Reed, on notice.

Wednesday — Kavis Reed defends Rottier, Sams says it’s business as usual and there’s a lack of clarity on who will be play calling. Tension hovers over the team all day as players are asked for their reaction to Hervey’s comments.

Thursday — Rottier is listed as the starting right guard on the Eskimos’ depth chart for the Labour Day rematch. Reed says Rottier will be a scratch and that Rottier’s inclusion on the depth chart is not a defiant act against Hervey.

So here we are on Friday, with tonight’s game against the Calgary Stampeders almost an afterthought. But don’t think that this isn’t an important night. The Eskimos’ response to these strange few days will be seen on the field tonight. Does this bring the team together or does it break them apart and spiral the Eskimos into Blue Bombers territory? If the latter happens, it lines up beautifully for the Eskimos-Bombers home-and-home series that gets underway next Saturday (a.k.a. The Somebody’s Getting A Win Bowl).

What does all of this mean? Are the Eskimos a simmering pot of dysfunction? Can the coaches and players shut all of this out and end their seven-game slide? Can they pick up their first at-home win of the year tonight?

If any of the above interests you, stop by the website tonight at 6:30 to join John MacKinnon and I in a pre-game chat.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/09/06/esks-game-day-a-wild-week-that-deserves-discussion-live-chat-at-630-p-m/feed/0Reilly cgyolearychrisWednesday’s O-Line: Everyone’s on noticehttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/09/04/wednesdays-o-line-everyones-on-notice/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/09/04/wednesdays-o-line-everyones-on-notice/#commentsWed, 04 Sep 2013 11:00:17 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=176854Leading into Monday’s Labour Day Classic, Kavis Reed had said his team needed a crescendo in its season.

On Tuesday, a day after the Eskimos’ 37-34 loss to the Stampeders, Reed got it, for better or worse.

If you haven’t …

]]>Leading into Monday’s Labour Day Classic, Kavis Reed had said his team needed a crescendo in its season.

On Tuesday, a day after the Eskimos’ 37-34 loss to the Stampeders, Reed got it, for better or worse.

Did Hervey do the right thing in calling out offensive lineman Simeon Rottier and essentially exiling him from the lineup this year? Was he right to step in and insist offensive co-ordinator Doug Sams no longer make play calls? What about saying that Greg Marshall’s defence needs to be turned loose?

With the Eskimos at 1-8, on a seven-game losing streak and masters of making ridiculous games somehow winnable (without winning any of them) in the final few minutes of play, something had to give with this team. Something needed to be said. In many ways, Hervey’s comments sounded like a medley of every disgruntled fan that has paid to sit through games this season, an #Eskimos post-game search on Twitter come to life.

But the thing is, this is Hervey’s team.

Simeon Rottier is Hervey’s player. The offensive line that he’s been revving the bus in front of since the week before training camp started is the line that he had an off-season to build. Like any new GM (save for Marcel Desjardins), Hervey inherited the roster of his predecessor, but the team that he took into training camp was heavy with his touch.

“Everyone is on notice,” Hervey repeated on Tuesday, sparing very few from his fury. No question about it, they’re all on notice now. What I’m interested in seeing is how this team responds to Hervey’s all-out call-out. Is this the defining moment that jolts the Eskimos into a string of wins that starts Friday against Calgary, the Shelbyville to Edmonton’s Springfield? Or did the kick in the pants miss its mark and leave the Eskimos heaped on the ground, nauseous? We get to find out on Friday, an end to a short week that will have the Stamps coming in looking for a season-derailing knockout.

Hervey’s handling of Simeon Rottier might be the most puzzling thing of this all, and it could be the longest lasting impression from the day that the rookie GM took down his weeks-long wall of silence with local media.

“It wouldn’t bother me if he didn’t play another down all year,” Hervey said of Rottier, who has started in all nine of Edmonton’s games.

Rather than release him, Hervey will have Rottier in practice and in the locker-room every day, the walking scarlet letter for the rest of the team to take heed of. Play up to the standard or you’ll end up like Simeon over there, doing hard time on second-team for one to nine weeks. What does that do to the morale of an offensive line? What does that do to the locker-room of a 1-8 team?

What can we take from Sams’ reduced roll? When I spoke with Kavis Reed on Tuesday, he said he’d be meeting with coaching staff to discuss who would be doing the play-calling for the rest of the season. Last year, when then-O.C. Marcus Crandell met a similar fate, the Eskimos won two games in a row, snapping a five-game losing streak. They were the last games they won that year. They dropped their final three regular-season games, squeaked into the playoffs (Edmonton thanks you, Swayze Waters) and lost to the Argos a week later. Season over.

There’s a broader meaning to what Hervey said. Everyone is on notice. What does a pending free-agent O-lineman think this week when he sees footage of this press conference? Assuming there’s massive coaching turnover at the end of the season, how many on-the-move coaches saw or heard this press conference and were enticed to come work in Edmonton?

“I’m not trying to micro-manage,” Hervey said to reporters on Tuesday. “I’m trying to protect my quarterback.”

Long silent on team issues, Hervey wasn’t away checking his emotions, thinking up the politically correct way to handle his team’s dire situation. On Tuesday he was raw and passionate, still so much fight in him, 10 years after his own Labour Day Classic moment. And now it goes one of two ways.

Week-end winners

Game of the week: Hamilton at B.C. — The TiCats Rodney Dangerfielded their way into BC Place and almost came away with a huge win over a Lions team that many are surprisingly counting out at this point in the season. Travis Lulay bounced back with a performance very well suited to him, with 359 yards on 26 of 36 passing for three touchdowns and running one in.

Honourable mention to the Calgary-Edmonton game, but I’ve seen that one before. Actually, I’ve seen variations of that game the last five times the Eskimos have played. That fourth quarter was fun, and maybe their best (or just craziest) comeback attempt yet, but they need a different outcome.

Players of the week

Offence: Maurice Price, Calgary — Kicking off some biased picks this week, I’m going with the guy I saw in person who wowed me with his second-gear speed. It didn’t take long to see what makes Price special. Give him the ball, give him a couple of steps to get going and look out. All three of his touchdown passes played out that way, short connections turned into massive yards after. Five catches, 165 yards, three touchdowns, all done on a bum foot.

Defence: Henoc Muamba, Winnipeg — I’ll admit, it’s a total token pick, based on the pick. The St. FX product became the first player in the league to intercept Darian Durant this season (without the play coming back on a flag) and for that he gets the nod on defence. He also had nine tackles and one on special teams. It’s been a rough year for Winnipeg fans. You’ve got to celebrate the little things sometimes.

Special teams: Joe Burnett, Edmonton — Burnett’s 78-yard punt return set up the Esks’ only touchdown of the first 45 minutes of play and was the only thing that kept the score close in the first half of Monday’s game. Dabbling in both kick and punt return this year, the play was the longest of his two-year CFL career.

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]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/09/04/wednesdays-o-line-everyones-on-notice/feed/0HerveyolearychrisCoehoorn SG Waldman SGCFLTSN SGCuthbert SG ONeill SGMajeau SG Monday’s O-Line: You’re (mostly) a patient bunch, Esks fanshttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/08/26/mondays-o-line-youre-mostly-a-patient-bunch-esks-fans/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/08/26/mondays-o-line-youre-mostly-a-patient-bunch-esks-fans/#commentsMon, 26 Aug 2013 22:13:14 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=176139I had a terrible sleep last night. Awful. I tried to re-watch the Eskimos’ game, only to find that my PVR — man’s supposed best friend — had betrayed me and decided to un-schedule the scheduled recording I set up …]]>I had a terrible sleep last night. Awful. I tried to re-watch the Eskimos’ game, only to find that my PVR — man’s supposed best friend — had betrayed me and decided to un-schedule the scheduled recording I set up last week. I gave up on the TSN broadband feed when it froze up on me for the third time inside the first minute of play (for the record, I blame Shaw for this and not TSN — bad looking out, cable/Internet provider).

The technological glitches only added to my problems, and left me feeling unprepared for what was in front of me. On Sunday afternoon I got a text from Dustin Nielson at the TEAM 1260, asking me if I’d join him and Wil Fraser for an hour for their Monday morning roundtable to talk about the Esks.

If you’ve been following along this season, you understand why this might be a stressor. The Eskimos are 1-7. They’re on a six-game losing streak. In each of their last four games they’ve shown that yes, you can get closer to winning without actually doing it and they’ve done so by infuriating a chunk of their fan base along the way, making for a hostile online environment. Have you seen Twitter during/after an Esks loss this year? It’s like a Sharknado, but the sharks have arms and in those arms are chainsaws and bats with nails in them. It’s vicious.

I expected that same fury on Monday morning but I was pleasantly surprised by the calls and texts that came into the show. For the most part, there was a tremendous amount of patience being shown. Maybe the heat-of-the-moment nature of Twitter makes for a harsher reaction from fans and with a few days between Saturday’s loss to the Riders, an understanding sets in. Or maybe it’s two entirely different crowds.

Online, fans’ most consistent gripes have been with the coaching staff. Offensive co-ordinator Doug Sams caught his share of grief in the first few weeks of the season, but the offence’s improved play over the last three games appears to have fanned that fire. Defensive co-ordinator Greg Marshall gets some heat for the defence’s underwhelming play this year, but the focal point of the fans’ anger falls on Kavis Reed, thinking that a firing will fix everything for the team.

There was frustration from callers on Monday, but the demands for coaching turnover were minimal. One fan emailed in to say that this was the happiest he’d been with the team in 20 years in terms of its direction and having a plan and praised GM Ed Hervey for that (UPDATE: Said fan tracked me down on Twitter; it was a text, not an email and the text is here). Other callers said that the last four games have been close, they’re not getting blown out and that while this year could be lost, there are things to build on for next year.

When you lose your last four games by a combined 12 points and save for a few mental errors and ill-executed plays could be a 4-3 team, there’s reason for frustration, but consider this: Would you rather go forward with this year’s Eskimo team at 1-7 or last year’s team, which was propped up at 5-3 heading into the Labour Day game against Calgary? I know which team I’d take.

The Eskimos appear to have their quarterback in Mike Reilly and have three other intriguing young options at the position. Matt Nichols’ injury could spare him from Ottawa in the expansion draft; Jonathan Crompton, while not yet ready, has the ability to be a good quarterback in the CFL, as does Jacory Harris, who sits on the Eskimos’ practice roster. That’s a drastic change at the most important position on the field in less than a full year on the job for Hervey. The defence will likely need to be re-examined when the season ends and the offensive line, I’d assume, will be the top priority. But in terms of building for the future, there’s a lot there that’s good. One fan said on Twitter Monday morning that the Eskimos reminded him of the 2010 Winnipeg team that won four games and blossomed to go to the Grey Cup game in 2011. If you’re looking at the long-term and even at the offence’s development over the last month, there are positives there.

I can see those things and clearly a lot of fans can as well, but it’s always better to hear it from the person who built the team. Unfortunately, Hervey has refused or ignored interview requests, depending on your approach, after each of the Eskimos’ last two losses. Until that changes, those applying heat to Hervey’s head coach and his staff will continue to do so. Silence speaks volumes and today more than ever that silence is open to interpretation.

Week-end winners

Game of the week: B.C. at Montreal, aka Marsh Madness – Any time the #CFL column on your Tweet Deck starts rolling like it’s the Matrix, you know something special has happened. A rookie third-string QB in Tanner Marsh that absolutely refuses to quit comes in and erases a 14-point deficit against a Grey Cup contending team (though the Lions didn’t look like it last week) for a storybook ending. The Montreal Gazette’s Herb Zurkowsky says it best.

Forget about Marsh’s four interceptions. Forget about his fumble. And forget about Montreal’s seven turnovers.

This is all you need to know: With 48.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Als scrimmaged from their five-yard line. On third down, Marsh connected with Deslauriers, an afterthought throughout his Montreal career, for a 22-yard gain.

And then, several plays later, he found Deslauriers for an incredible 57-yard gain, to the Lions’ seven. With 1.9 seconds remaining, Sean Whyte calmly kicked a 15-yard game-winning field goal.

It was simply incredible, especially considering the Als lost last weekend, at Saskatchewan, on a last-play field goal.

Players of the week

Offence: Kory Sheets, Saskatchewan – Really, Sheets could have his name here seven out of eight weeks this year. Seeing what he does in person and his role in the Riders’ offence in their second-half play on Saturday against the Eskimos gives more than enough convincing. The Eskimos did a good job of containing Sheets in the first half, holding him to 44 yards. The Riders’ offence stuck with him and Sheets rewarded their faith with 95 yards in the second half and two touchdowns. For all of the grace and poise that Ricky Ray has shown in his MOP-worthy season, Sheets is on the other end of the spectrum, a muscle car’s engine crammed into a sedan’s body, motoring around and through whatever it wants.

Defence: Aaron Lavarais, Montreal – Tied with Chip Cox for the team lead in tackles with six, the defensive end had a special teams tackle and got to Travis Lulay for two sacks as part of a win that the Als needed badly.

Special teams: Tyron Carrier, Montreal — It’s tempting to go co-winners on this one, but again, the Als won and Carrier was the better of two very good return men, going up against B.C.’s Tim Brown. He followed up his third quarter, 65-yard kickoff return with a 90-yard kickoff return in the fourth quarter that got Montreal back within a score of the Lions. Without him, the most watchable game of the season isn’t that.

Go ahead, make your wishes. If you’re like me, on your first wish you wished for infinite wishes. Upon hearing this, your genie (totally your …

]]>I’ve got an outstanding treat for you this morning. It’s Genie In A Bottle Day.

Go ahead, make your wishes. If you’re like me, on your first wish you wished for infinite wishes. Upon hearing this, your genie (totally your call on who the genie is portrayed by) flashes the knowing smile that she can only give you and nods. “As you wish.”

She’s good with clever little puns that way.

WIth your first few wishes, you go big. Riches. Your dream home. A dream car, maybe a dream boat. You have your favourite musician perform at your housewarming party and their eccentric who’d-have-thunk-it lifestyle follows suit. Now, somewhere between a lifetime membership with Cake Of The Month Club and re-enacting the scenario of Brewster’s Millions just for fun, I know that if you’re a fan of the Edmonton Eskimos you might have a specific wish on your mind.

I think you’re going to wish that Kavis Reed would get fired.

I’m here to tell you to that you should keep your genie busy doing your own greedy bidding. Heads rolling is the last thing that the Eskimos need right now.

I know what you’re thinking. We’re six weeks into the CFL season and the Eskimos are 1-5. They’re 0-3 at home and haven’t won a game at Commonwealth Stadium since Oct. 13, 2012.

Oh, and that last home win was the Eskimos’ last win of that 2012 season. Since then, they’ve gone 1-9.

So as the Eskimos have tumbled to the bottom of the CFL West and into a tie for the league’s worst record, with questionable play calls and curious post-game rants popping up along the way, frustration takes form in calling for the firing of Reed, or offensive co-ordinator Doug Sams, or defensive co-ordinator Greg Marshall. Well, say you fire one of the three or any combination of them. Say it happens during bye week, before the Eskimos begin to prepare for their game in Toronto against the Argos on Aug. 18.

Well, then what?

Would a new offensive co-ordinator help Mike Reilly or the rest of the Eskimos’ quarterbacks right now? Would a new head coach — even if it were an internal promotion — do anything for this team to save this season? I don’t think it would. As bad as their 1-5 record is, the Eskimos have looked better in their last two games than they have in their first three losses this year. They’re competing, they’re getting better and they’re getting closer to winning.

I asked Reilly about the offence’s progress after Friday’s loss. There are no signs of quit coming from the most important position on the team.

“When we were down, it wasn’t, ‘Here we go again.’ We sat here in the locker-room (at halftime) and we said, ‘We’re in the same situation we were in last week,'” he said.

“When I got out on the field right before I threw that ball to Marcus Henry and we were down by 8, we stood in the huddle and I looked at the O-line and the guys and said, ‘Hey, we know what to do. We’ve been here before. We just have to drive down and score.’

“And sometimes you can gauge guys and they don’t want to look at you and they give you the, ‘Yeah, OK,'” Reilly said, rolling his eyes. “Every single person in that huddle said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ I don’t think there’s ever going to be a game where we count ourselves out. So definitely, that’s a positive for us, but we …we have to win those games, we have to find a way. That’s what championship teams do.”

They still have a long way to go. They need to put a complete game together. They need to be able to stop teams from running against them. They need to be able to get off to a good start (that’s only happened once, back in Week 2 when they beat Hamilton in Guelph) and they — meaning coaches and players — need to be able to execute when games are on the line.

The Eskimos are in a deep hole. Calgary, Saskatchewan and B.C. look really, really good this year and I think the only thing that will slow any of them down is injuries. So after six weeks of play, the Eskimos are already looking like their only hope for a playoff appearance will come through a crossover. To fire any coaches now hits the reset button on everything when the players still want to play for their coaches. They may not be able to dig their way out of this thing, but their best shot at it is going ahead with who they have and trying to sort it out, as long as the players are still receptive to their coaches and that seems to be the case at this point.

In a rebuild season, consistency is key. Pending blowout disasters and a flatlining from the team, changes shouldn’t be considered until the season is complete.

Week-end winners

Game of the week: Hamilton at Edmonton — For a team with just one win, the Eskimos have been a part of three great games this year, with Friday’s massive comeback effort against the Tiger-Cats being the latest one. A Grant Shaw make on that 50-yard field goal attempt at the end of the game would have been better for the fans at Commonwealth, or a Reilly touchdown pass to Marcus Henry back in the first quarter that was overthrown could have made a difference. If you’re a Ti-Cats fan or someone just looking for a good game, Friday night delivered.

Highlight of the week: Marcus Henry’s touchdown reception

Henry was overthrown in the first quarter but he made sure he climbed all the way up the ladder to make this touchdown catch when his team needed it in the fourth quarter. Henry’s off to a slow statistical start this year (seven catches for 110 yards) but he’s had two impressive plays in his last two games. The week before in Montreal he pulled in a tough 26-yard pass on the Esks’ final drive of that ill-fated game. Henry was good for at least one absurdly athletic play per game last year and it seems like he’s gotten back to that in the last two weeks.

Offence: Travis Lulay, B.C. — The Lions weren’t as dominant as some expected them to be on Monday night against the Bombers, but did you have any doubt that Travis Lulay was going to make big plays when he had to? Lulay was 28-of-39 for 268 yards and three touchdowns and fired a pair of highlight reel passes into the end zone to Courtney Taylor and Korey Williams.

Defence: Adam Bighill, B.C. — With a team-leading eight tackles, Bighill is back in the groove he dug out last year with the Lions. His numbers are doubly impressive when you consider how quickly he came back from a Week 2 ankle injury that looked like it could have had him out much longer than two weeks.

Special teams: Luca Congi, Hamilton — Congi gets the nod by default as the only kicker this week to make all of his field goals. Shaw missed his third would-be game-winner in his time as an Eskimo on Friday; Justin Palardy was one-for-two for the Bombers and Paul McCallum, the model of kicker longevity and success in the CFL, was just one-for-three on Monday night. He fizzled out in the fourth quarter, where he shanked a three-yard punt and missed a field goal that would have put the game out of reach sooner for the Lions, who held on to win by seven.

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Up next: The Eskimos are off this week and don’t play again until Aug. 18 against the Toronto Argonauts at Rogers Centre.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/08/06/tuesdays-o-line-why-coaching-changes-in-edmonton-are-a-bad-idea-esks-progress-and-more/feed/0rsz_1cfl_eskimos_lions_20130720olearychrisScreen Shot 2013-08-04 at 7.38.04 PMBurris SG Cuthbert SG Brauming SG Edmonton Eskimos coach Kavis Reed takes focus off players with dubious decisions in 32-27 losshttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/07/25/edmonton-eskimos-coach-kavis-reed-takes-focus-off-players-with-dubious-decisions-in-tough-32-27-loss/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/07/25/edmonton-eskimos-coach-kavis-reed-takes-focus-off-players-with-dubious-decisions-in-tough-32-27-loss/#commentsFri, 26 Jul 2013 03:57:59 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=172595Thoughts on the Montreal Alouettes 32-27 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos on Thursday night at Montreal’s Molson Stadium:
For starters, what a wacky, epic journey from kick-off to final whistle. In the end, the Eskimos had the ball in their …]]>Thoughts on the Montreal Alouettes 32-27 victory over the Edmonton Eskimos on Thursday night at Montreal’s Molson Stadium:
For starters, what a wacky, epic journey from kick-off to final whistle. In the end, the Eskimos had the ball in their hands at the opponents’ one-yard line with the game on the line. After all the shuffling quarterback shenanigans in the first half, who would have foreseen the outcome would come down to inept clock management by head coach Kavis Reed and the Eskimos?
Which is not to excuse Reed, but between some shoddy goings-on in the first half and the heartbreaking ending, the Eskimos did some good things.

More than a few Twitter wits were evoking the grim 1960s era, characterized by a parade of ineptitude at quarterback for the Eskimos. My own sense is the Eskimos, after flailing away last year with Steven Jyles and Kerry Joseph, have something like an embarrassment of riches at QB, despite the fact Matt Nichols is out for the season after tearing an ACL in pre-season.
In Mike Reilly and Jonathan Crompton, the Eskimos have a pair of young talents in need of refinement, which was on messy display in that first half.
Reilly, the starter, struggled early, threw a bad interception and was replaced by Crompton. The strong-armed Crompton promptly threw an ill-advised interception himself (both to Alouettes MLB Shea Emry).
Delicate dance the Eskimos are trying to do with the quarterbacks. Reilly is the guy they want to ride this season, but he has to dial up is game. After being removed, after watching from the sidelines for a chunk of time, Reilly did just that.
Crompton may be the No. 1 quarterback, at some point, but he won’t get there unless he gets some playing time. Something else, with the new Ottawa franchise able to select two quarterbacks in the expansion draft, the Eskimos have to know as precisely as they can, what BOTH Reilly and Crompton can do.
When the club makes a decision about who to protect, they can’t guess. It would be shoddy asset management to lose Crompton, say, only to find out he was the real diamond in the rough.
Short-term, Reilly is the starter, and if he seizes the opportunity, good for him. If he doesn’t, the Eskimos will give Crompton the chance to do it. Based on his limited exposure on Thursday night, Crompton will need more seasoning before he’s ready for that, though.

In order to seize the day, though, Reilly (or Crompton, for that matter), needs help from his playmakers to succeed.
Reilly got it, in spurts, from the likes of receivers Cary Koch, Fred Stamps, Calvin McCarty, Marcus Henry and Nate Coehoorn against Montreal.
Reilly misfired, too. He overthrew a wide-open Koch in the second half on a play that was a certain TD if he delivered the ball.
Late in the first half, Stamps dropped a couple of balls he should have had that might have enabled the Eskimos to narrow Montreal’s first-half lead. Late in the second half, Stamps was money, making two tough catches in traffic, absorbing tough hits in the bargain. So did Marcus Henry.
The Eskimos run game was less effective than it has been, although John White made a couple of tough, hard runs late the game.

After fuming about “consequences” after the B.C. game Reed might have to give himself a tongue-lashing after this loss. His handling of the quarterbacks in the first half, while defensible, looked clumsy, even if it worked out in the end, sort of. His failure to communicate that punter Grant Shaw take a knee in the end zone at a crucial moment in the second half, and his shoddy clock management in the final seconds of the game, will have to be addressed, as the coaches like to say. Knowing Reed, he will be withering in his self-criticism.

Eskimos GM Ed Hervey has said this is a “rebuilding year” for the Eskimos, a curious message for a club that always prided itself on re-loading. On the other hand, Hervey read the riot act to the offensive line before training camp opened and has restated the fairly urgent message that the O-line has to elevate its game. Reed, with his “there has to be consequences” rant, signalled a sort of harsh accountability for his club. And yet, it seems clear, with the offensive line and with the quarterbacks, that patience is part of the dynamic, like it or not. Given what is said in team meetings and so forth, the GM and head coach might be delivering their messaging with crystal clarity to the Eskimos, but it’s a bit confusing from the outside.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/07/25/edmonton-eskimos-coach-kavis-reed-takes-focus-off-players-with-dubious-decisions-in-tough-32-27-loss/feed/0ReillyrjmackinnonEskimos OC Doug Sams on his QBs, his offence and giving guys a pushhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/06/10/eskimos-oc-doug-sams-on-his-qbs-his-offence-and-giving-guys-a-push/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/06/10/eskimos-oc-doug-sams-on-his-qbs-his-offence-and-giving-guys-a-push/#commentsMon, 10 Jun 2013 18:44:17 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=167875The bottled-up nature of Commonwealth Stadium’s Field House may have been a factor, if for nothing else then in terms of acoustics. The disconnect that seemed to hang over the Edmonton Eskimos’ quarterbacks and their receivers early on Monday morning …]]>The bottled-up nature of Commonwealth Stadium’s Field House may have been a factor, if for nothing else then in terms of acoustics. The disconnect that seemed to hang over the Edmonton Eskimos’ quarterbacks and their receivers early on Monday morning certainly factored in. Mix those two with Eskimos’ offensive coordinator Doug Sams’ disdain for sloppy play and you get a combustible mix.

Sams’ displeasure was easy to spot in the Field House, as his complaints bounced off of the surrounding walls and carried through the building for everyone to hear. First impressions can be misleading, it turns out. After the Eskimos’ morning session Sams said he wasn’t upset at all with his team.

“Quite the opposite,” he said. “I was happy. We just try to make it game-like because we have to turn up the pressure and play fast and I thought it was quite the contrary, I thought it was a good practice. We got a lot done and I liked the tempo.

“I like execution so when it doesn’t quite go right I send the message,” he said, laughing about the volume he was operating at. “I want it done right and I want it done the way I want it done and sometimes you do it just to see how guys will react. The good thing about the tempo here is that it was just like a game this morning.”

“You were just giving them a push?” I asked him.

“You got it,” he said.

I asked Sams about the quarterbacks he’s been watching for the past week-plus now in training camp and we talked about the progress they’re all making with his offence. The best of the best is below:

On the installation of the offence:

“We’re right on schedule and it’s going very well. We’ve got a lot of stuff that we’ve taken look at, a lot of packages. We’ll be out of the installation phase after (Tuesday) morning.”

On Matt Nichols and Mike Reilly’s play thus far:

“Right now it’s an open competition. All the guys pretty much are getting reps. Mike and Matt are getting a few more reps than the other guys, but the thing is we’ve still got a few more weeks of practice before the regular season and we still have to play two preseason games, so that process is ongoing.”

On the battle for the No. 3 and 4 spots on the depth chart, with Jonathan Crompton and Jacory Harris:

“We’re just very pleased with those two. They’re great young prospects. They bring a lot to the table, they come out of great college programs and I’m pleased with their mental and physical ability. They picked things up very well. The one thing they’ve got to learn up here is every 20 seconds you’re running a play and with the tempo of the game, you’ve got to think. The thing that we’re emphasizing to not just our quarterbacks but to the rest of the offence is you’ve got to think fast, you’ve got to play fast.”

On Jacory Harris’ two fan day interceptions:

“We addressed it and it’s part of…the perspective is he’s played very well in camp. Sometimes the execution isn’t quite what it is. He was waiting on a receiver to make a break. Let me say on those two plays the timing was off, for whatever reason but we did address it and that was just not real typical of him.

“I felt really bad for him and of course, naturally I don’t like sloppy plays. All the quarterbacks, I told them right after the scrimmage what I thought we did well and what we need to improve. That’s always an ongoing process. We always want to try to improve. I feel we’ve got a group of quarterbacks right now that we can develop and they can get better as they play. I like the group all together. They’re good people, good personalities and a lot of unique skill sets to our team.”

On Austin Kennedy, whose name put a grin on Sams’ face:

“How about that? He got in the other day (late in the second quarter on fan day) and I thought he did well. We were going to give him three plays and he got a few more because he did quite well. He deserves that because he’s done such a great job for us during camp. He’s a great young man, a great young quarterback because he’s got a decent arm and he fits in really well with our group of guys. They’ve taken good care of him and we have a lot of fun with Austin.”

On Kerry Joseph and his role with the QB unit:

“Well, No. 1 he’s a player. He’s part of the quarterback group. We’ve got six quarterbacks in camp and all I can tell you is he’s done quite well when he’s had the reps. He’s grasped the offence well and he understands the dynamics between the competition and the battle. He’s also a competitor. He’s also a guy who wants reps, who wants to play and the one voice is me. There’s only one coach and that’s me. But I think he will have a role on this team and you can’t beat experience, especially when we’ve got a couple of younger guys.”

On Joseph’s experience factoring in with a young QB group:

“I think so and you never know what’s going to happen down the road. You’ve got to have three that can play because in this game, things happen. It’s two-down football. You’re throwing, the QB at times has to pick and choose wisely when he has to tuck the ball, run and go. We always have to have more than just one.”

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/06/10/eskimos-oc-doug-sams-on-his-qbs-his-offence-and-giving-guys-a-push/feed/0EskimosolearychrisEskimos quarterback frontrunner expected to emerge this weekendhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/06/07/eskimos-quarterback-frontrunner-expected-to-emerge-this-weekend/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/06/07/eskimos-quarterback-frontrunner-expected-to-emerge-this-weekend/#commentsFri, 07 Jun 2013 17:56:09 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=167614When it came to position battles heading into Edmonton Eskimos training camp, the head-t0-head contest at quarterback between returnee Matt Nichols and newcomer Mike Reilly was undoubtedly the main attraction.

And while neither quarterback has jumped out and distanced himself …

]]>When it came to position battles heading into Edmonton Eskimos training camp, the head-t0-head contest at quarterback between returnee Matt Nichols and newcomer Mike Reilly was undoubtedly the main attraction.

And while neither quarterback has jumped out and distanced himself as the early frontrunner through six days of training camp, the early favourite to lead the Eskimos revamped offence is expected to emerge after the team’s Saturday scrimmage and fan day at Clarke Field.

“We want to rank them first thing on Sunday morning. Tonight we’ll start that process in terms of organizing where we think they are (and) after the scrimmage be able to say on Sunday morning ‘this guy is a little bit ahead, this guy is not. He should get more reps, or he should get less reps.’ That’s our expectation coming through this weekend,” said Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed with respect to his depth chart at quarterback.

Reed along with offensive coordinator Doug Sams will begin the detailed process of evaluating the Eskimos quarterbacks – in particular Nichols and Reilly – Friday night when the pair sit down and take a look at every one of the tandem’s reps through the first half dozen days of camp.

“We don’t have a ranking right now. We will have an indication as to who we feel is ahead,” said Reed when asked Friday morning if he’d have a ranking of his quarterbacks after his evening film session. “Statistically it is so even right now between Mike and Matt. It’s hard to call right now.”

“They’re within five reps of each other and we came into this saying that we wanted the variance to be about 10 reps and we’re within five of the number of snaps that they’ve taken. The statistics are eerily similar and that’s good for us, because it means that it’s very competitive, but it’s also one of those things where we have to find a way of getting someone to separate.”

While Friday night will give Reed and Sams something to go off of heading into the weekend, Saturday’s 40-minute scrimmage, which will see both Nichols and Reilly get a full quarter of work, is an evaluation tool that could go a long way in determining who heads into the second week of camp at the top of the quarterback pecking order.

“The coaches will be up in the booth as they would be in the booth (for a game) and we’ll be communicating to them. They’ll have to get out of the huddle. The 20-second play clock will be stressing them,” explained Reed of the game-like feel that awaits his pivots. “It’ll be very important for the quarterbacks to manage the game and situations (Saturday).”

Apart from a fourth quarterback to be determined later, that sorts out the situation at pivot for the Eskimos, who want to see a clear No. 1 emerge from the competition between Nichols, the incumbent, and Reilly, obtained in a trade with the B.C. Lions.

It should be a good situation for incoming offensive co-ordinator Doug Sams, who was introduced this week, along with the rest of head coach Kavis Reed’s 2013 staff.

Sams worked with a young Damon Allen in Ottawa in the early 1990s, during which, among other things, Allen rushed for more than 1,000 one season with a mediocre Rough Riders team as the Ottawa franchise unravelled owing to terrible ownership.

Anyway, Sams has a somewhat similar challenge ahead of him, with young talents Nichols and Reilly to mould here in Edmonton.

Here is Sams talking about the parallels between his Ottawa experience and the one upcoming in 2013.

]]>http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/02/14/eskimos-gm-hervey-says-kerry-joseph-will-return-in-13-to-mentor-qbs-matt-nichols-mike-reilly/feed/0rsz_reilly67990rjmackinnonEskimos name 2013 coaching staffhttp://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/02/11/eskimos-name-2013-coaching-staff/
http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/2013/02/11/eskimos-name-2013-coaching-staff/#commentsMon, 11 Feb 2013 17:05:28 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=149897When Kavis Reed opens training camp for his third season as the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos, he’ll do so looking at a sea of new faces.

The Eskimos have named their coaching staff for the 2013 Canadian Football …

]]>When Kavis Reed opens training camp for his third season as the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos, he’ll do so looking at a sea of new faces.

The Eskimos have named their coaching staff for the 2013 Canadian Football League season and only two coaches under Reed — Terry Eisler (special teams) and David Kelly (running backs) — will be back with the club.

Today’s announcement pieces together a coaching staff that had already partially been announced. Greg Marshall is the defensive coordinator, with Doug Sams handling the offence. Kris Sweet is running the offensive line and Travis Moore will be the receivers coach. Former Eskimo Leroy Blugh (defensive line), is new, along with former defensive coach Brad Miller (defensive backs). The Esks also added their former video man, Jordan Maksymic, as an offensive assistant.

This year’s coaching staff is a big departure from Reed’s hires in the previous two years. All of his 2011 staff is gone and Eisler becomes the most senior coach, having joined the club shortly before the start of the season. Kelly joined the team in September, during a five-game losing streak when he came in as an offensive assistant when Marcus Crandell had been shuffled from offensive coordinator to quarterbacks coach.

A few other Eskimos changes/adjustments: Paul Jones has a new job title, going from scout and assistant general manager to executive director of player personnel. Ryan Wagner is back with the Eskimos after an early-season departure last year. He’d spent three seasons with the Esks as the football operations assistant and is now the director of football operations. Finally, Canadian scout Rob Ralph is adding operations duties to his title.

The Esks are holding a press conference to unveil their coaching staff at 1:30 p.m.